The bold stroke by which they actually consummated
this treason was as follows. Of the restored exiles certain
officers had been appointed called Polemarchs, whose duty it
was to lock the city-gates, and keep the keys while they
remained closed, and also to be on guard during the day at
the gate-houses. The Aetolians accordingly waited for this
period of closing the gates, ready to make the attempt, and
provided with ladders; while the Polemarchs of the exiles,
having assassinated their colleagues on guard at the gate-house,
opened the gate. Some of the Aetolians, therefore, got into
the town by it, while others applied their ladders to the walls,
and mounting by their means, took forcible possession of them.
The inhabitants of the town, panic-stricken at the occurrence,
could not tell which way to turn. They could not give their
undivided energies to opposing the party which was forcing
its way through the gate, because of those who were attacking
them at the walls; nor could they defend the walls owing to the
enemies that were pouring through the gate. The Aetolians
having thus become rapidly masters of the town, in spite of the
injustice of the whole proceeding, did one act of supreme
justice. For the very men who had invited them, and betrayed
the town to them, they massacred before any one else, and
plundered their property. They then treated all the others of
the party in the same way; and, finally, taking up their
quarters in the houses, they systematically robbed them of all
valuables, and in many cases put Cynaethans to the rack, if
they suspected them of having anything concealed, whether
money, or furniture, or anything else of unusual value.

After inflicting this ruin on the Cynaethans they departed,
leaving a garrison to guard the walls, and marched towards Lusi.
Arrived at the temple of Artemis, which lies between Cleitor
and Cynaetha, and is regarded as inviolable by the Greeks,
they threatened to plunder the cattle of the goddess and the
other property round the temple. But the people of Lusi
acted with great prudence: they gave the Aetolians some of
the sacred furniture, and appealed to them not to commit
the impiety of inflicting any outrage. The gift was accepted,
and the Aetolians at once removed to Cleitor and pitched
their camp under its walls.